Graffiti 

Curator: This intriguing image by Vincent Giarrano is titled simply, "Graffiti." While we don’t have a specific date for its creation, it definitely captures a particular contemporary vibe. The artist, Giarrano, paints figures enveloped by raw, urban environments, each painting layered with intriguing questions. My first impression? There is a melancholic sense about this young woman, almost voyeuristic... what's your perspective? Editor: Absolutely. She is caught—captured in the intersection of graffiti as personal mark making versus the more civic intention of the posting, signage and listing—all layered as forms of messages with different levels of permission. Her gaze and stillness stand in contrast with all this background noise of messaging… Curator: You read her almost as a symbol herself. As for my personal sense of it? Well, she's someone who exists outside the spectacle, despite being stylish, she has a sense of isolation about her in the bright sunlit chaos of that wall of paint... But back to the graffiti— how do you interpret the artist’s focus on it? Editor: Right! She is observing or maybe weighing the options—the many messages in play. From a symbolic point, that backdrop itself functions almost as a modern-day palimpsest. The various messages become layered almost accidentally—with such immediacy. As for Vincent? Perhaps he wanted to invite viewers into that play between individual, commercial and counter messaging—in public—or at least to notice that such dynamics exist. Curator: So true... The way these various levels come together… You see a street-smart collision, a conversation captured rather poetically. But the interesting question that is brewing for me here—how is street art regarded? Is the 'art' of graffiti always separate from vandalism for the common viewer? Is vandalism just a statement not heard yet? This painting forces us to dwell on such ideas.. Editor: That distinction depends entirely on who is doing the labeling. A beautiful, elegant woman is now, in the 21st century, far less shocking as visual imagery… Graffiti, too, has become part of our design vocabulary. Giarrano perhaps plays with the subtle tensions remaining, asking, what's worthy? what is garbage? It asks questions we continue to ask today, doesn't it? Curator: Definitely. We may feel more aware as viewers… Thanks to your comments, I will notice many additional layers of symbolic importance here in Vincent Giarrano's captured modern scene from now on.